Already developed for the future today? – Sustainability in employee development

Personnel development – some entrepreneurs don’t like to hear this word. In most cases, it is closely linked to expensive seminars, training courses and further education. And these expensive measures haven’t brought the success that the company expected, often.

“No wonder”, the expert thinks, and we show what personnel development means and why personnel development is more important than ever for the success and growth of companies.

What many people are not aware of is, that personnel development begins with the first day of an employee with the company. And personnel development ends when the employee leaves the company.

From the first day, means that a regular comparison of the competencies and qualifications of an employee must be made. One compares, what an employee can do with what he should be able to do in order to cope with the assigned tasks. The basis for this comparison is the job description for the position that the employee occupies. The second basis is the employee’s objectives, which are directly linked to the company’s strategy and thus to his area of work.

If, for example, a medium-sized company has anchored a change in its product portfolio towards more digital products in its corporate strategy, this means that the company needs personnel with the appropriate qualifications. What sounds like platitude is in fact a serious challenge for many companies. By when do these competences have to be built up in the company? What objectives has the company set itself for the development of competencies? Can these competencies be developed internally? Do you need additional external human resources that bring these competencies with you, in whole or in part? And which time sequences have to be taken into account?

In times of rapid change to which companies are increasingly exposed, the continuous development of employees and the structured and sustainable planning of this personnel development plays an even greater role than ever before. Ever faster changing requirements mean continuous further development of the competences and qualifications of the employees.

What does personnel development mean in the result? Personnel development means lifelong learning – lifelong learning both for the organization and for each individual employee. Lifelong learning means remaining competitive – both as an organization and as an employee.

Personnel development measures are not to be equated with external seminars. The elements of personnel development are manifold, from reading a trade journal, attending events, participating in webinars to discussing with colleagues from other areas of the company. Personnel development measures are intended to promote technical skills and soft skills. In addition, much of the learning and professional development of employees now takes place in the workplace – informal learning is now much more part of human resources development. Here, knowledge is primarily sought and directly applied according to situation and need. This takes place through the exchange with colleagues, trying out new things, the use of the internet or challenging tasks. In addition, social networking in forums with colleagues and experts is playing an increasingly important role in informal learning.

An essential success factor is that the right measures for the development of the respective competence or qualification are defined together with the employee, these are implemented in a structured and consistent manner and the success is measured afterwards. This is where the entrepreneurial responsibility of personnel development comes in. The 70:20:10 model, in which personnel development measures should be put together in this way, certainly helps to put together the right measures:

20 % by their professional environment and mainly by their superiors (near the job measures)

10 % through traditional training, such as seminars, reading books and articles or teaching learning content in other learning formats (off-the-job measures).

At the same time, it is the task of personnel development to ensure that the newly acquired knowledge is successfully transferred and implemented in all areas of the company by providing specialist input.

Personnel development will be successful and sustainable, if it has a direct link to the corporate strategy. Company-wide, structured and standardized planning is an effective instrument for this purpose. Planning should be consistently carried out and tracked using an established process. The human resources department is required, on the one hand, to define the framework and the processes and, on the other hand, to accompany and support the employees on their way. The results must be measured regularly in order to make progress transparent.

Managers are challenged to take personnel development seriously. The processes specified by the organization must be carried out with the regular comparison of the targeted/actual status of competencies and qualifications in the team.

All this will bring the desired success for medium-sized companies, if personnel development is seen by the management and top management as part of corporate development and this importance is anchored in all areas of the company as a strategic element. Personnel development means securing the future of the company and its ability to innovate.

Sustainability in Training and Coaching – only marketing or really lived?

Sustainability is used more and more as an effective advertising slogan in marketing by trainers and coaches. We read more and more often: “I work sustainably”; “We anchor our knowledge in your company sustainably “.

But you have to check carefully whether the way it is done can actually be sustainable. Sustainability does not mean to hand out a questionnaire to the participants at the end of a training course you and to ask them, what the training was like. Sustainability begins with a clear objective. What is to be achieved with the training measure for the participants and what is to be achieved with the training measure for the organization in which the participants work. Sustainability is achieved by accompanying the participants or even the organization, where the effectiveness of the training or personnel development measure can be evaluated. The scope depends on the objective. For many objectives, but also additional supporting measures should be planned and implemented in good time. Above all, sustainability means anchoring knowledge in the organization and in the individual and enabling both to take care of themselves.

Individual training measures do not support sustainability sufficiently. There are serious studies which show that up to 80% of what has been learned has been forgotten after only 2-3 weeks. Therefore, it is all the more important to transfer learned knowledge and competences directly into everyday work.

The effectiveness of the success of a training measure can therefore not be measured directly at the end of the training. This can take place at the earliest three months after implementation. Has the newly learnt knowledge and the newly acquired competence become anchored in everyday working life? Has this made the organization more efficient or has it been able to achieve its goals better? These are questions that an external trainer can answer rarely. He is not involved in measuring success and seldom he accompanies his clients over many years.

From the very beginning, THE MAK’ED TEAM has therefore been committed to systematically anchoring sustainability in our work for our customers. On the one hand, this means that we offer “personnel development” service for SMEs as continuous external support and thus cover the entire process chain for the sustainable achievement of the defined goals.

This also means that in countries where we see many trainers flying in and out, we have established our own local training institutions with local trainers and local employees. They accompany local companies and organizations in their development in the long term. We advise our clients comprehensively on the requirements of effective training measures and support the definition of objectives. For our company, this means not only anchoring processes and standards, but above all continuous training and coaching of local trainers and employees. Only in this way can we guarantee their competence.

And above all, it also means supporting local institutions and companies. We recommend questioning critically, whether the desired sustainability goals can be achieved with international consultants and trainers, who can neither adapt the knowledge to the country-specific context nor know the local circumstances. Many of these consultants, trainers and coaches are not even interested in accompanying their clients in the medium or long-term. A training “often out of the box”; only helps the trainer or coach, not his customers – at least not under the aspect of sustainable development of employees.

Since 2013, I have been working in Haiti in the field of further education and the development of personnel and organizations – in 2016, I started my own local business in Port-au-Prince. Two days ago, widespread violence broke out – with road barricades, looting and shooting throughout the country.

It is only a certain part of the population that is so destructive and violent, acting with great brutality. It’s real anger, it’s frustration causing this violence. Frustration about not seeing any opportunities for oneself in this country, not feeling any change. This is what makes me angry.

And furious with the rioters. They are venting their anger on the private companies that have stayed in the country for years, investing and creating the few jobs that Haiti now has to offer. But I’m also angry with the government, which is not doing enough in the field of education. It is necessary to introduce free education for all people up to the age of 16. It is necessary that teachers be trained so that they can offer students all-embracing education which includes critical thinking, development of self-confidence and hands-on approaches (helping the student become a “mover and shaker”) Education allows children to develop, to go their own way and reach their aims.

For many years now, our Haitian company has been helping young people and adults to grow, to learn and update their skills so that they can share their knowledge and contribute to economic growth, rather than migrating to other countries or destroying the existing economy. The last few days have shown us that we must continue with our work. We have only just begun.

Project insights: Development of a franchise system for further education academies

One of our new projects started on September 1! Actually, it is a project that is very close to our hearts. In recent months, we have put a lot of time and effort into the preparation of this project.

But what’s behind it?

We have developed a franchise product, namely a standardized ‘Training Academy’ business, which is designed for markets in less industrialized countries. As a franchise partner, you can run this type of academy under the name ‘CAR’ED – Center for Education and Development’. You will then receive a package of training programs, a corporate structure, templates, logos, and sales and marketing concepts developed by us. On September 1, the first pilot started in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where the first CAR’ED Center was opened, offering seminars and qualifications aimed at young people, and people in regional areas as well as in production and sales. This also includes individual coaching sessions or group trainings designed to support people and organizations in reaching their long-term goals.

Due to the existing structure, the products and knowledge of the market and customers, the Haiti-based center has rapidly gained momentum. Special customer training courses have already started. The center posted a course calendar with all training course dates and new instructors joined the pool of CAR’ED certified trainers. The center is becoming more and more popular throughout Haiti. Close support of the franchise partners, especially in the early stages of the implementation, ensures high quality in terms of customer service as well as trainers and seminars. We can’t wait to see how the whole thing is going to evolve over the coming months!

It is planned to open further centers with franchise partners in the coming year. We are already in touch with a number of potential franchisees interested in setting up training academies in their countries (e.g. in Ghana, Kenya and Peru).

Every single project is the perfect combination of heart, soul and passion. What is so special about this concept is the fact that it is one of our own projects which pools the expertise of our entire team. Be it the cooperation with our franchise partners or the seminars that we conduct – the response has been overwhelmingly positive since project kick-off. It is great to see how quickly skills and potentials can be developed – the passion of each seminar attendee for learning fuels the passion for our work.

You think that everything is possible and sometimes you also like to turn things upside down

You want to leave your fingermarks – on society, people and institutions

You want to implement your ideas in projects

You have an “entrepreneurial spirit”

THE MAK’ED TEAM is a globally operating network of extremely dynamic women that are full of great ideas. They work closely together in the field of education and knowledge management as well as human resources and organizational development.

Our world has changed dramatically through digitization, affecting our work and jobs, but also our needs in terms of knowledge and education. This is why we need people from different sectors who are able to critically question the establishment, to turn things upside down and come up with innovative solutions. We at THE MAK’ED TEAM drive change and shape the future through innovative and creative ideas as well as concepts, training and personnel development – digital media always included.

As MOVERS and SHAKERS we actively support private and public sector institutions in their development and change processes and accompany them throughout the implementation process. These solutions are developed together with the institutions and adapted to their culture. Based on our hands-on approach, they are then successfully implemented with the help of our talented, driven and dedicated team. In recent years, each of us has gained in-depth expertise in international projects with different institutions. At the same time, we continue to work both as individual MOVERS and SHAKERS and as a TEAM around the world.

We are MOVERS and SHAKERS who want to initiate and drive change and development – with passion and boldness. Our activities shall have a lasting effect on society, people and institutions.

What do we offer?

Close collaboration with a dynamic and established network functioning as sparring and project partner

A platform that allows you to implement your ideas

Open-mindedness towards innovative and creative ideas

Internationality, acting and thinking without being constrained by spatial limits

Interested in becoming one of our MOVERS and SHAKERS? Simply contact us by sending an e-mail to info@the-maked-team.com

Again and again, one reads that institutions, their managers and employees need to be able to react flexibly to today’s rapidly changing environment in order to remain competitive. And this is actually what flexibility is all about. It’s the ability to move quickly and easily. The better you know yourself, the easier it is to be flexible. For companies, this means that they must be able to react to and deal with unforeseen events quickly – if this seems necessary or is deliberately wanted.

However, some of the managing directors or managers, that I work with, often tell me on the first day of our common project that I will have to show a high level of flexibility when working with them. By the way, I think that you won’t have to ask someone who has worked for a longer period of time in less developed countries to demonstrate a certain degree of flexibility. In these countries, you will always create several alternative plans in order to be able to react to unforeseen events quickly and easily. But let’s come back to the managers who need a very flexible environment… After a few hours or days of working with them, I have the impression that they tend to use the term “flexibility” instead of “chaos” in order to present something in a more positive way or to their own benefit. Chaos refers to a state of complete disorder and confusion. It is thus almost the opposite of flexibility. Managers who are chaotic are neither capable of managing their time and resources, nor willing or able to work on the basis of processes or structures. A chaotic management style means that managers allocate tasks to their team members at short notice, they don’t know much about efficiency and the workflows within their teams are never the same. So, I would like to take this opportunity to urge those so-called “flexible” managers to start working on themselves in order to avoid further destruction! Because the chaos they create has nothing to do with flexibility. Their chaos will definitely harm the organization: Unsatisfied staff, inefficient processes, low productivity and introvert communication are caused by a lack of processes and structures that are either missing or are simply not applied – through this inward-looking focus the company will lose touch with the outside world and major unforeseen changes. Changes that you will only be able to cope with when you’re flexible.

I always compare this to a huge cruise ship: the ship and its crew will not be able to react to unforeseen incidents without the perfect interplay between planning, processes, structures and the observance of all rules and directions by the crew that also has to carry out the required tasks. In the case of an unforeseen event (e.g. a massive iceberg along the route), everything must run like clockwork. That’s the only way how a huge cruise ship can avoid a collision and prevent sinking. So, flexibility does not mean chaos. On the contrary, chaos prevents flexibility. And it thus also prevents organizations from operating in today’s increasingly uncertain and fast-changing environments in a fast, agile and focused manner.

It is always good to look back and see how far we have come, especially at the beginning of the year. But above all it is a good time to set goals for the year ahead. And here it is not about New Year’s resolutions like “I’d like to eat less chocolate or exercise more”! This is about specific and measurable targets. How far do you want to come? What actually do you want to develop, improve or change this year? What does it need to achieve these goals?

In recent years, I have not met too many people who have set very specific goals for themselves. Most of them let life go by as it comes. However, when you set personal goals, it will actually help you to work on them, to pursue and reach them. Whether you want to obtain a PhD degree until your 40s, to publish a book, move to your favorite city or find a specific job at the company of your choice – all these objectives, even the least important ones, need to be prepared in order to be able to implement and reach them. If you do not plan the necessary steps in a timely and consistent fashion, you will have to admit in the end that you have not achieved the goal(s) you set for the year.

Your goals may even be a little bit crazy. Start dreaming! And try to make your dreams come true. If you feel that a year is too long or short for achieving your goals, simply define shorter-term or longer-term objectives. The important thing is that you always follow them and stay focused.

So, take a quiet moment for yourself and write down a handful of objectives for 2017! Otherwise, time simply goes by and someday you’ll wake up and realize that you have not reached your personal goals. Some people would use the term ‘lost years’… although this is certainly not entirely true…

In recent months, we have been following a company where we have been impressed by how engaged the company’s CEO is, how he blogged and posted on internal social media every day. Every day you could see where he was going, what topics concerned him, and what was going through his head. In addition, he posted articles from various media channels about the topics of leadership, management, corporate culture, change management, and work – most of these set in the context of his own company. We were enthusiastic!

What gave us the most pause, however were three things – whereby the third point in particular caused us to reflect and discuss:

There were no real reactions from the thousands of employees worldwide.

Many employees told us that they did not read what he wrote.

Why are such articles and posts written by the CEO and not by the Personnel Department? Or why, at least, is HR not visible behind the posts?

We kept returning to this last point. What kind of role does HR play at most companies and what kind of role should HR play? HR must redesign itself from scratch. Administration of personnel data is one part, personnel development is another, of course – both are very important, but still not enough. Especially given current changes with digitalization, changed ways of working, agile project management methods, and mobility, HR must regard itself as an organizational developer, as well as a consultant, mentor, and coach for work and leadership methods. HR must take on the role of a designer. This designing should make active changes in structures, communication, and ways of working. Such changes might include:

Transformation of the organization to flat hierarchies,

Deployment of community managers at the company to network with one another,

Complementing of workspaces with lounges, outdoor benches, and creative spaces,

Communication via internal social media about leadership, new work methods, change management, and trends,

It’s good to note that these are just our ideas and they could be delved into in more depth. What we want to make clear here is that we have reached a point where organizations and the ways in which they work have changed so drastically that HR must play its role as expert in the HUMAN area at the organization and incorporate itself proactively. These are such expansive topics that HR must now become involved proactively in the company’s organizational development and take on responsibility for this. A personnel management department must now transform itself into an organizational management department. Today’s personnel professionals should no longer fear employees and try to make everything right for everybody. No, they should appear with confidence and take changes in hand. And here the focus is not just on theories and concepts – no, here doers are called for!

Posts and blogs by the CEO like the ones mentioned above should in the future be made by the personnel management department, possibly together with the CEO.

Do our tables, windows and wallpaper actually need an IP address? This is one of the questions asked by Sven Gábor Jánszky (trend researcher, organizer of the annual Future Congress and Executive Director of the 2b AHEAD ThinkTanks) in his presentation on “Future Paths 2025” at the Vision Forum. For the two-day conference at the Allianz Forum in Berlin experts from industry, academia and non-profit organizations came together to debate over the topic “Innovation Valley instead of Industry 4.0 – technical, digital and social aspects”. Valentina Kerst (Managing Director of the strategic Internet consulting firm topiclodge) gave participants a picture of the “current state” in Germany. The outlook there could be more optimistic. On a digital level, Germany lacks structures in politics and administration to take advantage of digitization. On a technical level, the country simply lacks the infrastructure. There are still regions in Germany, mainly in rural areas, where no high speed Internet is available. In the worldwide digital infrastructure ranking, Germany comes in 25th place. The country also needs to invest in the digital education of children. On a social level, Mr Jánszky predicted that cohabitation and relationships would change, with a shift of physical proximity to relational proximity created via social networks. There would also be a shift in trust that is built on relationships towards trust that is built on met expectations.

How come Germany is so far behind when it comes to digitization? The conference speakers agreed that the reason lies in Germany’s tendency to hold on to the old tried and tested. Moreover, many businesses underestimate the impact of digitization as a process of social transformation. Leadership, for example, needs to be rethought or even redesigned. Executives should see themselves as talent scouts, coaches, and mentors. They are responsible for attracting young talented people, retaining them in the company and thus driving innovation. Associate Professor Dr. Andreas Boes (Director of the Munich Center of Internet Research) and Prof. Dr. Stephan A. Jansen (Head of the Centers for Philanthropy & Civil Society, Karlsruhe Karlshochschule), who conducted research in Silicon Valley, reported that this technology hub clearly illustrates how important it is to create corporate cultures that allow their staff to make mistakes – because you learn from them. A number of best practice examples showed that this is also possible in Germany and Switzerland. Major organizations such as Triumph, Wittenstein AG and Haufe-umantis AG have introduced alternative management concepts as part of their corporate culture. Flexitime schemes and innovative leadership strategies are part of their new approaches that prove to be very successful. Be it schools, businesses or social institutions – during these two days, it became clear to me that it is all about boosting potential. Consequently, we have to break patterns in terms of roles, formats, skills – i.e. we need to think outside the box. This requires courage on the part of each manager and indeed, each person. How else can you stay innovative in terms of technology, digitization and society?

Sven Gábor Jánszky concluded his lecture by using a nice image. He suggested that we should think of our ideas as a fleet of ships. In a fleet, there are small rooms that are protected and at the same time, there is room for maneuver allowing us to create new spaces. A good chance for change!

Within the last months we had the possibility getting an insight into various enterprises: from start-up companies up to international groups – every size was included. What we have noticed: there are still companies very hierarchically organized. And there it doesn’t play any role whether it is a small start-up company with five employees or an internationally operating one.

Strong hierarchies in an enterprise are mostly connected to a certain management style. From top to button much is kept under surveillance, decisions must be made with several levels of hierarchy, the confidence towards the employees is fragile and faults are not permitted. Innovation and creativity are already nipped in the bud through this. Moreover, strong hierarchies have also to do with a need for reputation and recognition of every single manager. The fear of the failure in front of the boss leads to a fear of letting things go and towards over-controlling: confidence is good (however only in low extents), control is better. The managers want to show that they have everything under control – but with that they crush independent thinking of the employees, the independent search for solutions and also the desire standing behind the company and their products. One just works! And the manager’s fear of faults is automatically passed on the team.

This can be frequently observed very well with new employees. They often considered for a long time whether they start with the new enterprise. Finally, they made the decision for it as they felt this new task and function exciting and challenging, and because they would like to bring themselves into the company with their experiences and knowledge to jointly advance the apparently interesting new employer. The motivation goes steadily down within the first months until at the end the new employee then is at the low motivation level of the remaining colleagues. Working to rule.

Striving for reputation is a very strong factor for strong hierarchies in enterprises. Very often this can be found in old, long established companies – more often also in rural areas than in cities. To be seen and to make something of oneself has an importance in rural areas, and this very often over generations. A visible career only can be made in enterprises where a strong hierarchy exists. At certain hierarchy levels there are still the special boni in many of these enterprises, such as the company car. But also young PHDs who then set up their own company instead of starting their career as professor bring in the strict hierarchies with the rigid employee management and paying homage of the “colonel” to parts of the start-up world.

It is our observation again and again: steep hierarchies in enterprises definitely slow down dynamics, innovations and creativity. The energy of the employees is lost on long marathons of taking decisions and coordination – but also the independence of the employees to express criticism and to take on responsibility. Reduce the hierarchies in your enterprise and let room for autonomy and making faults. Let your employees arise and leave your “motherhood” behind. Also your employees must find their own solutions and learn by faults. And one is certain: they will grow on it!